Friday, May 19, 2017

First Q'eqchi'-Speaking Stake to be Organized in Guatemala

Mission leaders in the Guatemala Coban Mission report that the Church will organize its first Q'eqchi'-speaking stake on June 4th in Senahu. The Church has maintained a presence among the Q'eqchi' since the 1970s and has translated a sizable number of church materials into the Mayan Q'eqchi' language, including all LDS scriptures. Currently the Senahu Guatemala District has nine branches and at least one member group. The Church has generally reported good member activity and convert retention rates among the Q'eqchi'.

Click here to read more about the Q'eqchi' in a case study I wrote approximately five years ago.

10 comments:

Will this be the first non-Spanish speaking stake in a Spanish-speaking country? Even Colonia Dublin an d Colonia Juarez seem to have mainly Spanisg-speaking units in the stake.

On the other hand I know in Ota valour, Ecuadoretc the membership is mainly indigenous people but that is not the same,as non-Spanish speaking. The membership of the Chinle Arizona Stake is mainly Navajon, for a while they had a white stake president but his wife was Navajo his father-in-law had been a Navajo code talker in WWII. I only know this because I had multiple history classes with his daughter at BYU including Native American history to 1900. However All the units in the Ch I need Stake hold meetings in English, although I suspect testimonies given in Navajo are not unheard of.

That is where my and I went to do humanitarian work 2 years ago! We passed 3 chapels on the quite remote road. A man serving a service mission in the area said it was amazing to see the people just pour out of the jungle on Sundays. He said there were Sundays that more that a dozen were baptized at a time. Most Sundays had baptisms in many of the several branches.

In Paraguay there's a district with several branches functioning in the nivaclé language, the Boquerón district. It could be that all five branches are in that language, but I know for certain that at least three of those are. I remember that the only thing they had in their language was the sacrament prayer. They sung the hymns in spanish, even though they didn't understand a thing, except for those who had served missions and learned it on the field. Their misionaries didn't even go to any MTC, because they didn't know any other languages, and no one on any MTC spoke theirs. Their branches were really strong. The only reason why they are still a stake is because there's no one else around. Most of their society were LDS back then, about 80% of their people.

John, I would say yes by now, but I haven't had contact with them for several years. One of the problems is that they are just a few thousand, maybe even just 2000 or less. But there must be at least a rought translation of the new testament. They are overwhelmingly happy though. Happy and kind of isolated.

Wikipedia has a short article on the Nivaclé people. It says there are approximately 15,000 of them, with most being in Paraguay (both the Boquerón and President Hayes departments) but smaller groups in Argentina and Bolivia. There are 5 Nivaclé subgroups, and the language has two dialects, Forest Nivaclé and River Nivaclé. The article also says the Bible was translated into the Nivaclé language in 1995.

I wonder if the LDS Church has a designated translation for the language. However if there is only one Bible translation in the languagd such designation would not be needed. The Church has designated preferred use transkations for 95 languafes.

I wonder if the LDS Church has a designated translation for the language. However if there is only one Bible translation in the languagd such designation would not be needed. The Church has designated preferred use transkations for 95 languafes.

This is such wonderful news! I want to just mention my dad's name here. Robert Wallace Blair (1930-2016) had a huge impact on that area of Guatemala. I was honored to be with my father, Dean Black, and John Bringhurst (who was a missionary at the time) when Chulac was just starting to open. At the time--1978--it was approachable only by jeep.Margaret Blair Young

Stakes and Districts Discontinued in 2018

About Me

My interest in researching the growth of the LDS Church began in 2002. I began this blog in late 2007 to provide a forum to discuss LDS growth developments and share information. I have also worked for The Cumorah Foundation since 2009 providing research assistance and resource development on LDS growth and missionary work. Since this time I have been interviewed by various media organizations and have co-authored with David Stewart our comprehensive work Reaching the Nations: International Church Growth Almanac: 2014 Edition. I have a masters degree in psychology and a doctorate degree in clinical psychology.